Gateway landscaping

COFFS Harbour City Council general manager Steve Sawtell may have said the comment in jest, but many in the community will agree with his sentiment that a five-metre hedge will improve the look of the controversial 'Gateway' structures.

The topic of the Gateway structures was raised three times at last Thursday's council meeting, with the executive manager of operations Alan Hindmarsh called on to explain where the project is up to.

Mr Hindmarsh said some $15,000 worth of landscaping was yet to take place around the structures, located at the north and south entry of the city centre.

The landscaping, due to begin next week, weather permitting, will not, as Mr Sawtell suggested, comprise a five-metre hedge, but rather 'textured plants to complement the textured surface of the structures'.

Cr Jenny Bonfield said at the meeting that she felt the council was being 'unfairly criticised' for the structures, given that they had been installed without the accompanying landscaping.

"Perhaps we should have waited until the landscaping could be done at the same time, rather than putting the sculptures in and them standing there on their own all these weeks," she said.

The landscaping is expected to take two weeks to complete. The $15,000 is contained within the $100,000 budget for the project, not additional to it.